Hanamichi Sakuragi
Hanamichi Sakuragi is the main character of Slam Dunk series. At the beginning of the series, Sakuragi is a slacker, good for nothing other than fighting. He is the leader of the feared "Sakuragi Legion", which consists of his four friends Mito, Noma, Ohkusu and Takamiya. Sakuragi's quest for love is nothing but humiliating. He is always trying to ask girls out, but is rejected constantly, the fiftieth rejection occurring at the start of the series. He then met Haruko Akagi, a lovely and friendly basketball fangirl, whom he fell in love with, immediately. This and Haruko's encouragement led to him to join the Shohoku basketball team. However, as a complete beginner, he is not able to keep up with the rest of the team at first, despite his physical attributes (great height, athleticism, stamina, speed and leaping ability). In spite of the setbacks he has had to face, Sakuragi displays a great deal of tenacity and determination that carry him through and help reciprocate for his other failings, both on and off the court. Although his love for Haruko and rivalry with Rukawa are the main driving forces motivating him to succeed in basketball, his injury during the Sannoh match makes him realize that he has actually come to love the game, leading him to give his all for his team and bring them victory. Personality Throughout the manga, he is very short tempered, arrogant and aggressive. He begins regarding himself as a genius even when he has not learned any skills. His most recognizable trait is his red hair, though he shaves his head as reparation for an error that led to a loss in the interhigh tournament against Kainan. Sakuragi has a habit of making fun of other players by calling them things other than their names. He calls Akagi "gorilla" (causing other people to mimic - much to Akagi's irritation), Uozumi "Boss monkey", Kiyota "Wild monkey", Maki "Uncle", Mashiro "Totem pole", Masashi "Bald Gori" and Miyamasu "alien". Despite this, the only one doing the same thing to Sakuragi is Kiyota who calls him "red haired monkey". At first, Sakuragi was known for his poor basketball skills as a beginner and in his first few official matches, he fouled out every game. However, his basketball skills advanced throughout the series. First, he developed his basic skills such as dribbling and lay ups. Then, trained by Akagi, he became a formidable rebounder, with his rebounding becoming his claim to fame throughout the latter half of the series.During the time between after the Kainan match and before the Ryonan match, Akagi and Kogure train him to do bank shots.He also is seen more than once defining the match for Shohoku in the last seconds, for instance, by dunking a ball that Akagi would have missed in the interhigh tournament match with Ryonan. His jump shooting was then developed by Coach Anzai, who had him make 20,000 shots in a week. He hit a buzzer-beating jump shot to win the match against Sannoh. However, he also injured his back during the match against Sannoh, and underwent rehabilitation after Shohoku's subsequent loss to Aiwa Academy. In spite of the setbacks he has had to face, Sakuragi displays a great deal of tenacity and determination that carry him through and help reciprocate for his other failings, both on and off the court. Although his love for Haruko and rivalry with Rukawa are the main driving forces motivating him to succeed in basketball, his injury during the Sannoh match makes him realize that he has actually come to love the game, leading him to give his all for his team and bring them victory. Abilities As seen and witnessed by Haruko and Hikoichi, the skills Sakuragi really excels at is his jumping, speed and power. Kawata Masashi of Sannoh notes that he has never seen a person with that kind of knee power. The height of his jump is incredibly high as noted by Coach Takato of Kainan High as he was able to jump back to block Sawakita's dunk attempt and stop the alley-oop to Masashi despite him falling to the floor. His jumping ability makes him a formidable rebounder under the tutelage of Akagi. He is also noted for being strong as Akagi says that in a battle of strength, no one can beat him. He is able to hold his own against Kawata Mikio who weighs 130 kg. Akagi also notes that Sakuragi is much stronger than Uozumi Jun of Ryonan and Kawata Mikio of Sannoh despite the latter being smaller. Sakuragi also has abnormal strength as noted by Noma. Ayako also notes that his speed and athleticism surpass most high school students, even surpassing Akagi or Rukawa's as he is able to become a fully realized basketball player in just four months into his basketball career. He is also noted for having a large amount of stamina as he is able to run and defend the basket from Sannoh's attacks. At first, he can only do dunks and lay-ups, but under Akagi's thorough training his shooting presence becomes well-known. Then with Coach Anzai's training, he is able to finish 20,000 shots in a week to further improve his shooting range. Despite this, Mito notes that standing at 45 degrees to the right gives Sakuragi higher success rate at shooting jump shots. The only weakness that Sakuragi has shown is having a weak opponent as he is unable to show his true skills and abilities. Mito notices this when Miyamasu of Kainan subs in as Sakuragi starts to miss shots. Another weakness of Sakuragi for the majority of the series isthat his shooting presence was not highly accurate which changed just before the Nationals. In his final match for the tournament against Sannoh, he became a complete basketball player showing the ability to out-wit opponents, get past opponents in one-on-ones, hold his own against a player weighing 130kg, perform dunks, rebounds and jump shots all efficiently. He could beat Taiga Kagami in Manu a Manu which means 1vs1 match up Playing Style & Skills The only skill that made Sakuragi well known is his rebounding. He is able to outrebound players like, Hanagata Toru, Uozumi Jun, Kazuma Takasago and Nobe Masahiro. All four other players are regarded as one of the best centers and rebounders in the country. His rebounding skills are so good that even Akagi mentions that if it wasn't for his rebounds Shohoku wouldn't be winning games. Because of his rebounding skills, Coach Duomoto of Sannoh instructs Masashi to mark Sakuragi instead of Akagi to stop his rebounds. Because he has the advantage in jumping ability over Masashi, Masashi just boxed him out then let the ball fall to the ground so he can get the ball freely. But still he can rebound over Masashi. His rebounds are the main reason for Shohoku's comeback victory over Sannoh in the second round of the National Competition. Coach Taoka of Ryonan is even surprised that a power forward like Sakuragi ever existed. As he is able to jump continuously just to get the the ball cleanly, Masahiro quotes that other than Masashi, Sakuragi was the only one who has beaten him in getting the offensive rebounds Relationships With Haruko Sakuragi's love for Haruko makes him a better player as well as a person throughout the series. However, she does not reciprocate his feelings until the end of the manga, during the Sannoh game as she comes to check on his back. He is initially taken aback by her big crush on Rukawa, but still tries to win her by motivating himself to learn new moves. It is unclear whether Haruko begins to like him or whether she still sees him as her best friend. Family It has been mentioned in the anime about Hanamichi’s father, who he calls old man, who had a heart attack when Hanamichi returned home. But Hanamichi couldn’t do anything for him because he was stopped by a group of high school students and was beaten up by them and was unable to get an ambulance for his father. This flashback was shown after Coach Anzai had his heart attack reminding Hanamichi of his past. As nothing was mentioned of his father after that, he is presumably dead. Trivia *Both Sakuragi and Tsubomi from the Heartcatch Pretty Cure! are same with have to "Hana". *Sakuragi is based on NBA player Dennis "The Worm" Rodman because of his rebounding and his signature of hair being coloured. Sakuragi also wear Rodman's original jersey no. 10. The difference is that Rodman is a fierce defender while Sakuragi is somewhat a weak on-ball defender as he is easily passed. He has better shooting than Rodman and jumps higher. Also the rebounding style is different with Sakuragi rebounding with his jumping ability while Rodman rebounding with pure physicality or chipping the ball until he gets it. *Sakuragi has similarities with Kuroko no Basuke's Taiga Kagami. Both are red-haired, jump high and wear the same jersey no. But Kagami is more skillful than Sakuragi as he can shoot anywhere and even shoot 3s. Kagami also has signature skills due to the manga itself as every player has their very own signature skills. But Sakuragi has a stronger physique and stamina than Kagami. *It is hinted that after the game against Sannoh, Coach Anzai didn't let him play against Aiwa because of his injury in the back. If so, because of his absence, Shohoku was easily trashed by Aiwa. Category:Shohoku High School basketball team Category:Characters Category:Basketball Players Category:Power Forwards Category:Kanagawa Players Category:High School 1st Years